


Quietly Breaking

by animenutcase



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 10:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23969581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animenutcase/pseuds/animenutcase
Summary: Souji's non-IT Social Links are a bit concerned that he's not doing too well.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 45





	Quietly Breaking

“Mister?” Nakajima Shu’s voice brought him back to reality. “Can you… explain this part?”  
“Oh, sure.”  
“Mister, is everything alright?” Shu asked when they were drinking tea at the end of the session. “You seemed very out of it all evening.”

Mister bit his lip as he tried to think of an answer.

“Maybe I’m just hungry.”  
“Hungry?”  
“I haven’t been eating as much lately.” He said sheepishly. Shu squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. Should he try to make a joke or something?  
“Is your uncle starving you or something?”

Shit. That was a terrible joke and Shu didn’t need to see the frown on Mister’s face to murmur an apology. Even Shu had seen footage of Detective Dojima Ryotaro’s accident on TV. He was probably still in the hospital, which meant that it was probably just Mister and his young cousin at home right now. Shu wants to ask once more if Mister is alright as he leaves, but doesn’t. It’s not good to worry about anything other than the big test coming up, he tells himself.

///////////////

Kuroda Hisano suspected something was wrong the moment Souji-chan walked by the riverbed without greeting her. Even if he didn’t have a conversation, he at least took the time to say hello. As she debated on whether to confront him, she remembered that she first saw him at the hospital.

//////////////

“Is everything alright?” Uehara Sayoko asked abruptly as Souji escorted her to the hospital entrance. “I know it’s tough having both your uncle and cousin in the hospital. Have you thought about counseling?”  
“There’s no need to worry about me, Sayoko-san.” He said with a pleasant (and fake, Sayoko thought to herself) smile. “I’m doing okay.”  
“One of my patients, Kuroda-san, died recently. It seems you’re acquainted with his wife, Hisano-san.” Sayoko continued. “She seems worried about you. She asked if you were having trouble at home.”  
“And what did you tell her?” Souji asked calmly.  
“I told her that you had relatives in the hospital and that I would ask you how you were doing.”  
“That’s very kind of you, Sayoko-san, but I assure you, I’m doing fine.”

Uehara Sayoko left Inaba Municipal Hospital without looking back. But for a moment, she felt like she should have.

///////////////

Something’s wrong with Mister Souji, Minami Eri thought to herself as she watched him play with the children at the daycare. Usually the children were pulling at him while he went along with it with a tired (but happy) smile on his face. Today, though, the smile is tense and he looks tired. And he’s playing with the girls a lot more than the boys. She remembers him mentioning a young cousin. Are they fighting? Has their relationship gotten tense since his uncle was hospitalized?

Eri didn’t know. Whenever she tried to ask him about, he would give a vague answer and then change the subject to Yuuta. Even though he’s been helping her get closer to her step-son, she doesn’t really know Mister Souji that well and she doesn’t want to pry more than he’s comfortable with. Mister Souji’s a strong boy. Surely he’s doing alright?

///////////////

The Fox seems a lot less cheerful than Souji thought it would be when he arrived to tell it that he’d caught the Guardian, fulfilling the request on the ema. It just stares at him, as though waiting for him to tell him something more.

//////////////

“You’re coming with us to Aiya.” Nagase Daisuke said firmly as Souji exited the classroom. “We won’t take no for an answer.”

As he and Ichijo Kou drag their friend down the stairs, a girl with short, black hair looked as though she wanted to say something, but the words in her head refused to come out.

“What about practice?” Souji said tonelessly as they walked through the entrance.  
“Zombies aren’t fun to play with.” Kou laughed. “C’mon, talk to us.”  
“About what?”  
“Don’t play dumb.” Daisuke frowned. “We know that your uncle and Nanako-chan are in the hospital.”  
“Yosuke told us.” Kou said as Souji was opening his mouth. “He’s worried about you, too. When we asked if he wanted to join us, he made up some bullshit excuse not to. Are you mad at him or something?”

Souji shook his head.

“We haven’t seen you with your other friends, either.” Daisuke stared at Souji. “Yukiko-san, Chie-san, even that Tatsumi guy. You seemed to be a pretty close-knit group. What happened?”  
“It’s… not something I can easily talk about.”  
“We’re your friends, too.” Kou sighed as he rubbed his head. “We won’t force you to tell us, but you need to know that if you ever feel like you need to get it off your chest, we’re here for you, man.”

Souji smiled, but Kou and Daisuke’s worries remained as he explained that he was just a little stressed from having to take care of everything at home by himself. Their friend was good at a lot of things.

Lying wasn’t one of them.

///////////////////

Amagi Yukiko, Kujikawa Rise, and Shirogane Naoto all looked indignant when Ebihara Ai slapped him in front of the shoe lockers. Yukiko in particular looked like she was about to smack the living daylights out of her. Ai scowled when Souji said nothing.

“Just because you say something doesn’t mean it’s true!” She shouted as she stormed down the hallway to the Practice Building past Rise, who looked like she was ready to pounce on her.

Souji just smiled pleasantly at the people who were staring as he headed upstairs to the library, unaware that he was being followed. Since it was raining, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do besides go there. The library was unusually empty. Souji just shrugged and started to walk down the aisles, looking for something to read.

By chance, he found himself standing next to some cookbooks. He grabbed one at random and started flipping through it. It was a cookbook for amateurs (it might be good for Yukiko, he thought wryly to himself). About halfway through, he saw a page for an omelet with rice. It seemed a bit fancier than most, though. Souji grinned to himself. Maybe he’d surprise Nanako later tonight.

That was when he remembered: Nanako wasn’t there anymore.

//////////////

Konishi Naoki had moved beyond that of a person whose mere presence made people uncomfortable to someone virtually no one noticed. Or maybe everyone had simply learned to ignore him. He’d been standing by the window a few feet away from where that girl had slapped Souji-san. Once he’d gone upstairs, Naoki had (quietly) followed him.

Souji-san seemed to have already forgotten about the slap and seemed to be looking for a book. Naoki simply shrugged and started to walk around at random as well. He found a book on various types of liquor (what this was doing in a high school library was anyone’s guess) that seemed interesting. He was heading to the front desk to check it out when he’d heard a thump.

It seemed strange that he knew what was going on before he’d seen it. Then again, the library was practically deserted. When Naoki came upon that aisle, he found Seta Souji sitting on the floor, a dropped book in front of him, and tears streaming down his face.

Souji glanced up at Naoki, but didn’t move. _Ah, so he’s reached the end of his rope_ , Naoki thought to himself.

Naoki placed the book in his hand on the floor as he knelt in front of Souji. Slowly, he put a hand on Souji’s shoulder. When Souji didn’t pull away, Naoki gently pulled him into an embrace. Once again, Souji didn’t pull away. Instead, he seemed to sob louder.

Souji had seen him cry just a couple weeks ago, yet it felt strange to see him crying. Naoki felt himself panic when he realized that he wasn’t sure what to do next, when he saw, at the end of the aisle, a girl sitting with her back to the shelf and her knees scrunched together. It took him a second to realize that it was the girl who had slapped Souji earlier.

She turned to look at them and her face turned red when she realized that Naoki could see her. Reluctantly, she stood up and entered the aisle.

/////////////

Once Souji had stopped crying, Naoki and Ai helped him walk home. It was obvious that he’d been holding back his worries for several days now.

After forcing Souji to go to bed (Ai actually threatened to slap him again), the two awkwardly waited downstairs to make sure he wouldn’t try to go to work or something.

“Is this alright?” Naoki mumbled to Ai. “It feels almost like we’re trespassing if we stay here.”  
“It’ll be fine.” Ai nodded, but her voice betrayed a hint of unease. “Once we’re sure he’s asleep, we’ll leave.”

There was an awkward pause.

“His cousin…” Ai said so suddenly that Naoki almost jumped. “I met her once. Cute kid. It’s not right for something like this to happen to her.”

Naoki nodded.

“But she’s just sick, right?” He asked, uncertainty in his voice. “There’s a chance that she’ll get better.”  
“Yeah.” Ai nodded. “And once that happens, he’ll be sure to cheer up.”

Once they were sure Souji was asleep, they left the Dojima house.

“Actually, what’s today’s date?” Naoki asked suddenly.  
“Oh… I think it’s December 2nd.”

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt for this one was Souji confiding in his non-IT Social Links, though it came out more as Souji NOT confiding in anyone until he has an emotional breakdown.


End file.
